Cybertruck: Tesla Halts Production for Australia and New Zealand
The automaker is refunding deposits for a vehicle it will not build for those markets.
By Andrew Yang ·
Tesla has officially abandoned plans to produce the Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand, bringing a long wait for reservation holders in those countries to an end. Emails sent to deposit holders today confirm that orders are being cancelled.
The cancellations are being processed alongside refunds for all payments made. Tesla states it will return funds to customers within 30 days. For those who wish to purchase another vehicle from the company, Tesla is offering a complimentary one-year subscription to FSD (Supervised) if they order a new Model 3 or Model Y.
The history of this decision stretches back years. Australians began placing A$150 deposits for the electric pickup in November 2019. Tesla quietly shut down the Australian reservation page in May 2022, though it did not refund customers at that time, leaving them in limbo. In 2024, company leadership suggested the vehicle might be certified for additional markets the following year, but no right-hand-drive version materialized.
The core obstacle remains engineering and economics. The Cybertruck is manufactured solely in left-hand-drive configuration, while Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Japan require right-hand-drive vehicles. Furthermore, entering Australia requires certification under specific national design rules, a costly step for a vehicle facing softening demand in North America.
Current sales volumes do not justify the expense. Tesla delivered only 8,295 vehicles in the 'Other Models' category for the third quarter of 2026, a grouping that now consists almost entirely of Cybertruck units. This volume indicates an annual pace far below the production line's capacity of 250,000 units per year.
Tesla's international rollout has focused exclusively on left-hand-drive markets, including South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and Israel. The vehicle remains barred from the European Union primarily due to pedestrian safety regulations. Consequently, Tesla is not investing in right-hand-drive conversion, treating the Cybertruck as a niche product primarily for the North American market.
